La Deuotio de Decio Mus

Abstract

The object we have decided to discuss here is the use of Ancient History as an iconographical source in the European art of the 17th century. We have divided the study in two parts, the first one consists on the analysis of the deuotio ritual contextualizing it within the republican Roman religion. Basing on the literary sources, we shall focus on the Decius Mus deuotio. In the second part, we will connect that ritual with Rubens and his paints dedicated to the Decius Mus deuotio. The next step is try to explain why this story was chosen, in which sources did Rubens get inspired and which iconographical elements were used to shape the ritual in the different scenes in the cycle.